Mindfuck Movies

[kikko]

I love them. It's my favorite "genre" for movies. What are your favorites, cult classics, and ones you think are "essential" to someone watch in the genre?

[SecondTalon]

Can you be more specific? I'm not understanding the exact nature of Mindfuckery you're wanting - something like Wild Things, where the plot makes no goddamn sense until you watch the credits mindfuckery? Something like In The Mouth of Madness where the main character realizes he's fictional and watches the movie too mindfuckery? Pi just goddamn weird mindfuckery? Primer's what the fuck just happened Mindfuckery?

[Izawwlgood]

Disney-flick 'are you seriously suggesting this is a happy ending?' mindfuckery?

[Jessica]

ST: when you say wild things, do you mean the teen movie from the 90s with Neve Campbell in the pool? Where the wild things are, the childrens movie based on the book of the same name? Or was it a typo? Maybe the Wild Hunt (something I just saw, about larpers who get a little out of control - which was a pretty fucked movie, so I bring it up)? I just don't know what you mean...

[SecondTalon]

... The first one.

[Jessica]

Ah, cool.

Is it worth seeing?

[Izawwlgood]

Insofar as having hot people doing hot things, solid dialog, a pretty awesome plot, and an even awesomer series of plot twists? Yeah, I'd say so. I did see it when I was in high school, so it's possible my enjoyment was biased, but I'd call it one of the few plot twist movies that actually has sensible turns, as well as flashback info dumps that actually enrich the story instead of simply drag you along with it.

[SecondTalon]

Ah, cool.

Is it worth seeing?

What Izzy said. Is it good? I dunno, it's been .. uh... I saw it in theaters and haven't seen it since. The movie basically went "Oh, they hate each other. Wait, they're working together. Wait, did.. what? Huh? The fuck is going on?" *movie ends* "The fuck was going on?" *credits start, with video bits playing during the credits* "OH! So she was with him and they... OOOOoohhhhhhh... now it all makes sense!"

But, again, it's been 13 years, and it was during the period of time (1998-2000ish) that I and my friends damn near saw every film that got a national theater release. Which means I'm comparing it to .. basically every film released between 1998 and 2000. It was good compared to everything else. Then again, so was Insurrection.

[Jessica]

Huh. I remember the commercials for this when I was in high school, and remembering thinking it looked stupid. Mainly because the commercials were "HOLY CRAP HOT WOMEN IN POOL!!!" and that was about it.

I might acquire this for viewing in the future.

[Izawwlgood]

"HOLY CRAP HOT WOMEN IN POOL!!!"

To be perfectly frank, that does comprise a portion of the movie's plot. But them being hot I think actually hurt the film; it was a surprisingly cool revenge-within-revenge-murder-theft-hotchicksmakingout-class-warfare story.

[Obby]

I'm going to have to throw my hat in the ring for Primer. I had to watch it twice to really understand what was going on.

And don't ask me to explain it now, either, because I'll have to re-watch it in order to do so.

[big boss]

No one has mentioned Memento? Then again that is a more popular movie and the OP might be looking for some more obscure films.

[SurgicalSteel]

The OP has yet to return, I think we're free to talk about any kind of mindfuck movies we please.

[SANTARII]

Adapatation starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep is SOMEwhat mindfucky.

Reason for mindfuckiness is in spoiler tags, it's SLIGHTLY spoiler, it won't ruin the movie, and so I'd say it's fine to read it, but some of it is a little more fun to figure out as the movie progresses.

Spoiler:

Because the film is about the person who is writing the film. Well, it's about the book that the maker of the film was making a film about, but, well, the movie explains why the plot focuses so much on the writer himself. It's even better when you read up on the making of it and see that the movie had a lot of truth in it, and some of the differences are interesting.
Brilliant film.

[Ambermutt]

Have you seen Pulp Fiction? It's not really mindfuckery, but it's not like too many other movies. It's one of those told in segments that come together really fast and unexpectedly. If you like(d) that one, also try Reservoir Dogs. They're both Quentin Tarantino, so expect a lot of blood and gratuitous violence. With really funny dialogue.

But for some [i]real[i] mindfuckery, try Funny Games. There are two version, US one is a remake, it's the one I saw. The plot is pretty straight forward, but some things happen that are just completely WTF unexpected and possibly very deep. Except so weird I don't think I got it.

[lemmings]

Naked Lunch: A two hour long version of the 'Drugs will turn your brain to jelly' PSA, with imagery that makes The Scanner Darkly look like a children's movie. The trailer for John Dies at the End is about the only thing close to it.

[Obby]

Adapatation starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep is SOMEwhat mindfucky.

Reason for mindfuckiness is in spoiler tags, it's SLIGHTLY spoiler, it won't ruin the movie, and so I'd say it's fine to read it, but some of it is a little more fun to figure out as the movie progresses.

Spoiler:

Because the film is about the person who is writing the film. Well, it's about the book that the maker of the film was making a film about, but, well, the movie explains why the plot focuses so much on the writer himself. It's even better when you read up on the making of it and see that the movie had a lot of truth in it, and some of the differences are interesting.
Brilliant film.

That reminds me of a book called House of Leaves. While not a film, it's certifiably mind-fucky to the Nth degree. If you're interested, I would highly, highly advise against the ebook version. Go for the hard copy.

[SurgicalSteel]

Is there really an e-book version of HoL? I looked before out of morbid curiosity and didn't find one. Yea, an e-book version of that book would strip away like %60 of the experience. It relies heavily on the paper book format.

[Microscopic cog]

Worst mindfuck I had was when I randomly turned on the TV and got sucked into a movie where Arnold Schwartzenegger played a movie version of Arnold Schwarzenegger and there was someone else who was playing the real Arnold Schwarzenegger and there were so many bad one liners I got so confused.

[juststrange]

Worst mindfuck I had was when I randomly turned on the TV and got sucked into a movie where Arnold Schwartzenegger played a movie version of Arnold Schwarzenegger and there was someone else who was playing the real Arnold Schwarzenegger and there were so many bad one liners I got so confused.

Last Action Hero?

I'll throw in 'Revolver' which is transparent at times but still a surprisingly thoughtful Jason Statham film. M Night Shaymalan (sp?) films all fall in that direction, but they have gotten significantly worse and more thinly done every time. As far as just wtf value, I hear Muholland Drive was pretty difficult to grasp.

[DonChubby]

As far as David Lynch goes, Mulholland Drive really isn't that complicated a movie. Even outside of the context of David Lynch it's not so hard to understand. If you want mindfuckery, you want to watch Inland Empire. Now there's a movie that's hard to make sense of. And of course Eraserhead is a classic as well. Though not in a difficult to understand way, but more in a really-fucked-up-shit-going-on way.

[poxic]

Change of pace: Being John Malkovich. It's no problem following what's going on. It's just ... like ... trying to breathe Play-Doh to do the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing. But you do it anyway. And it never lets up. And your head feels all wrong when it's over. Because it's full of Play-Doh.

In a good way. Mostly.

[PatrickRsGhost]

David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick would have to be the Kings of Mindfuckery, as far as movies go. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and A Clockwork Orange top my list of mindfuckingly mindfucks.

Fantastic Planet would have to be another good one.

[kikko]

The OP has yet to return, I think we're free to talk about any kind of mindfuck movies we please.

Basically any kind you please.

[Dthen]

The OP has yet to return, I think we're free to talk about any kind of mindfuck movies we please.

Basically any kind you please.

The OP has returned, I think we're free to talk about any kind of mindfuck movies we please.

[AvatarIII]

David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick would have to be the Kings of Mindfuckery, as far as movies go. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and A Clockwork Orange top my list of mindfuckingly mindfucks.

Fantastic Planet would have to be another good one.

David Cronenburg and Darren Aronofsky can go on that list too

[philsov]

Primer is a pretty good mindfuck. Without spoilering too much, it features both time travel and self duplication. It's a recipe for awesomeness, and the care that's taken to avoid causality it awesomely meticulous.

[ManyPopes]

I just watched Eraserhead..

I don't think I could dream of seeing a weirder film..

[cephalopod9]

I've lost perspective on what freaks people out. (No one has any reason for clicking that link in a place of business, but I don't think it's that bad.)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and A Clockwork Orange top my list of mindfuckingly mindfucks.

A Clockwork Orange was fairly depraved, but I didn't find it to be particularly disorientating or especially intellectually challenging. Mind Fuckery could be either exceptionally disturbing, disorientating and difficult to comprehend, or strenuous to mentally digest*. I kind of prefer that later definition, but I like materials that can be described as either.

I can't think of anything that is just disturbing, but not outright horror, y'know, twisted but not just gory and scary. The Ring does some of that, but is pretty settled into the horror genre. Japanese horror comics definitely do that, but I don't know if they get film adaptations. (Not violent or particularly gory, but do note that I am highlighting it for it's disturbing nature)

As for disorientating and incomprehensible, there's movies with premises that are alien and challenging, although I think they tend to try and make up for mental challenge of the set up with plots that are as straight forward as possible. Inception got talked up for being wild and innovative, but the story was fairly formulaic (aside for the Philip K. Dick style "oh wait, that doesn't actually add up at all" moments).
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a bit more ambitious, and had a lot of fun with it's set up, I think Michel Gondry does that well, but for me, didn't reach 'messes with my head!' status.

For the last category of mindfuckery, I guess there's usually overlap with the other two, but also brings in something extra.

Cat Soup ( or Nekojiru-so) is definitely there. It's a wordless story about adorable anime kittens journeying through the afterlife, and kind of horrifying in some places.
In a similar vein, anime, Paranoia Agent is a t.v. series that gets pretty freaked up, and I've been wanting to see Paprika a bit.

I don't think I can talk about movies that hurt your brain without giving mention to After Last Season. It is an independent film made by an unknown director who clearly does not understand what a movie is. I don't know if it's still possible to get a copy though.
*I'm feeling like there should be a better word for this than confusing. Maybe I'm blanking on a term that means "you thought everything was one way, but then something happens that reveals that everything is actually another way, and you have to go back and re-evaluate your interpretation of all past events".

[modularblues]

I thought One Hour Photo was pretty disturbing. And I have a pretty high threshold.

Below links contain anime trailers. I enjoyed Serial Experiments Lain very much. Very existential in a violent way. I didn't finish the Paranoia Agent because I got too disturbed, which was a rare rare occasion. And I only read the manga for Mirai Nikki, but man, intense.

Serial Experiments Lain
Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent (妄想代理人, Mōsō Dairinin)
Future Diary (未来日記, Mirai Nikki)

[Dark567]

Cube 2:Hypercube Although I am not sure it actually makes sense.. to anyone.

[artifex]

Adapatation starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep is SOMEwhat mindfucky.

Reason for mindfuckiness is in spoiler tags, it's SLIGHTLY spoiler, it won't ruin the movie, and so I'd say it's fine to read it, but some of it is a little more fun to figure out as the movie progresses.

Spoiler:

Because the film is about the person who is writing the film. Well, it's about the book that the maker of the film was making a film about, but, well, the movie explains why the plot focuses so much on the writer himself. It's even better when you read up on the making of it and see that the movie had a lot of truth in it, and some of the differences are interesting.
Brilliant film.

The best thing about that movie was how the characters' personalities changed as the writer's opinions of them changed, and the way it sort of shifted genre more than once as his life changed. Somehow, that made the events seem more real to me. It's like they used genre expectations, which can sometimes soften the blow of a dramatic twist, to actually conceal twists.

[Low Caliber]

Old Boy
It is a little bit strange...

[Izawwlgood]

It's not a mind fuck, it's just violent.

[Ghostbear]

David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick would have to be the Kings of Mindfuckery, as far as movies go. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and A Clockwork Orange top my list of mindfuckingly mindfucks.

Fantastic Planet would have to be another good one.

I haven't seen A Clockwork Orange, but sticking with Kubrick, I thought 2001: A Space Odyssey was a bit of a mindfuck. Not in the traditional sense, but just in that I found the experience of watching it so very different, and sufficiently mindfuck inducing, from that of other movies. The ending has a bit of a mindfuck to it as well. I don't think I've really watched anything else that would count though.

[Jorpho]

Adapatation starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep is SOMEwhat mindfucky.

Change of pace: Being John Malkovich. It's no problem following what's going on.

Really, we might as well keep going and name Charlie Kaufman's other two films in that vein: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synedoche, New York.

I want to mention Akira, but if we start going into anime here, we might never get out. Then again, someone already mentioned Papirka. Darn good film, that.

How about Terry Gilliam's stuff? Brazil, for instance? Maybe The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?

I think The Cell might also qualify.

I've lost perspective on what freaks people out.

Aww, it's gone.

[poxic]

Brazil, for instance?

A good example of "not hard to figure out, but WTF". I finally rented the movie, mumble years ago, after hearing about it all the time.

I pushed the VHS cassette into the player, set the TV channel to 3, then *started* to sit back onto the couch.

I think I stayed in that position for the entire film.

[cephalopod9]

I think Brazil is a great movie to go into knowing nothing about it.
That reminds me, I still haven't seen Baron Munchausen or Imaginarium. (Why is netflix instant play such disappointing selection fffffff)

I've lost perspective on what freaks people out.

Aww, it's gone.

A small sample with a link in the comments to a youtube in the comments, but the youtube wants you to be 18 to see it.

[pollywog]

I think I am getting trolled by American Psycho. I've watched it about 5 times, once sober, the rest stoned, and I just can't figure out what the fuck is going on. It might not be a "mindfuck" movie, but holy shit is it fucking with my mind. My girlfriend and I have a basic theory that part of it is about how corporations are treated in 80's America, that Bale is consistently and blatantly committing horrific crimes and no one gives a shit, but that's not all of it.

I just don't understand!

[Kick]

I would highly recommend both Primer and Memento, but I see those have already been suggested. So, I would have to recommend my favorite movie, Revolver. It has elements of mindfuckery, actually, that's a major, major part, but it's also a great crime drama.